The Duck Stops Here

The Duck Stops Here

By Cheri Scolari

 Who would have thought that I would be frosting cupcakes with my nose and tossing rubber ducks through a cardboard cutout as part of my duties as Culinary Marketing Specialist at Sickles Market?  All in a day’s work for the Fearless Foursome who rose to the occasion, sporting rubber duck necklaces,  Duck, Duck, Goose pins, and entered Duckathlon VII, an annual gastronomic competition in New York City hosted by D’Artagnan, purveyor of gourmet meats and other fine foods.  Our Sickles team (comprised of Kirsty, Director of Tours and Training, Carol, Bakery Manager, Vieva, Cheese Department Manager and yours truly) arrived at Abe and Arthur’s  restaurant around noon and found ourselves immersed in a sea of strangely costumed fellow participants, many of them chefs from the city’s finest restaurants, including Le Bernardin, Daniel and Annisa.  The founder of D’Artagnan and our host for the day, Ariane Daguin, gave us the rules, a map and our itinerary with 26 food-themed stations located throughout Chelsea Market, High Line Park and the trendy Meatpacking District.  Off we went on our first Duckathlon course, hoping to bring glory (or at least not too much shame) to our beloved market. 

For four hours we toiled, building pyramids with cheese molds, reassembling a partitioned pig, identifying a collection of fowl, post-mortem,  and even walking backwards wearing flippers, holding a tray of glasses while under siege by water pistols!  Our culinary knowledge was put to the test as well:  We tasted pates and pastries wearing nose plugs and blindfolds, identified grains of rice, mushrooms and Bloody Mary mix and ascertained the age of French wines  and Armagnac.  At four o’clock we returned to Abe and Arthur’s, exhausted but proud to have finished the course.  A post-Duckathlon party and awards ceremony followed where we enjoyed champagne and a sampling of D’Artagnan’s offerings.  Our Fearless Foursome tied for third place with Tom Colicchio’s craft, in our knowledge of New Jersey seasonal produce (you see, it pays to work at a fresh produce market like Sickles!) We also made a decent showing of fourth place on “A Flocking Good Time,” or naming the dead birds. 

We didn’t bring home any spoils (those went to the first and second place winners) but we were proud of our effort, had a good romp and  enjoyed a beautiful day in the city with some of the best chefs you’ll meet anywhere. With any luck, we’ll get invited back next year. That will give us some time to hone our skills making mayonnaise with a barbeque fork!